


Whumptober 2020 - No.13 Alternate Prompt - Stitches

by Jakkuor



Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: The Thalmor Suck, and will continue to suck, don't do first-aid like jakk does folks, jakkuor in her natural habitat (shes originally a skyrim OC)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27019516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakkuor/pseuds/Jakkuor
Summary: this features OG Jakkuor! She's an OC from Skyrim originally, I just also like to write a million and one AUs about her
Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948606
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Whumptober 2020 - No.13 Alternate Prompt - Stitches

**Author's Note:**

> this features OG Jakkuor! She's an OC from Skyrim originally, I just also like to write a million and one AUs about her

Jakkuor clutches her bleeding arm while she sprints through the woods, as far from the corpses as possible.  _ Fucking Thalmor and their fucking obsession. Why can’t they leave me alone?  _ She was lucky enough that there had only been two of them this time, but that usually meant there were more nearby. And she sure doesn’t plan on sticking around to find out.

Her heart is somewhere in her throat as she runs, arm aching, legs screaming for a rest, but she pushes on. She’ll be in a hell of a lot more pain if she gets caught. It’s a long time before she feels safe enough to stop. By then, her arm is throbbing and both hands are covered in blood. The adrenalin has faded from her system, and she’s exhausted and breathless.

“Dammit,” she hisses. She has to find somewhere to make camp and get herself patched up. She wanders, trying to catch her breath and scanning the area around her for a cave or an outcropping of rocks or _ somewhere  _ that will protect her somewhat from the elements. She’s lost her tent -  _ again  _ \- but at least she’s still got a bedroll.

By some stroke of luck, Jakk stumbles upon a cave. There’s nothing guarding it; no wolves, bandits, or necromancers. She approaches the entrance cautiously, tasting the air. The scents of other people are stale, to the point where she can’t even discern what race they might’ve been. This place has been empty a long time. Her chest lightens with relief. One less thing to worry about. She enters, carefully making her way down the steep rock. It’s dead silent save for her breathing as she follows the winding path.

It opens up into the rest of the cave, and there’s an abandoned camp right by the entrance. A fire pit is off to the right, full of ashes that have long since cooled. There are bedrolls around it, as well as a cooking pot, a few books, and a stack of firewood. Perfect.

She gathers some of the firewood into the stone pit, stacking it carefully, then goes for the books next. The titles etched into the leather covers are too long for her to read - though she can pick out ‘the’, ‘and’ and, ‘of’ - but it doesn’t matter what they’re about. She’s going to use the pages for her fire. Not to mention, whoever owned them is long gone by now. She tears up a couple of them, adding the paper to the pile. 

_ Okay. Now just gotta light it. Let’s see if I can get that spell working… _

Jakk isn’t a mage by any means, but she did recently figure out that she could occasionally summon flames in her hands. Not enough to do any damage, mind you, but enough to light a fire. Most times she doesn’t need much more than that. So she holds out her hand, palm up, and concentrates.

There is a flicker of light, and a tiny fire appears in her hand. She manages a small smile - things are working out nicely for her after earlier - and reaches down to light the paper. It catches quickly and, after a few moments, the wood has lit up as well. Soft crackling and dim light soon fill the cave as the fire grows. The warmth emanating from it is enough to still Jakk’s trembling.

Now that she can see properly, it’s time to get her arm fixed up. Jakk undoes the straps on her leather gauntlet, wincing as she removes it. The wound is still oozing blood, though much slower than before. It’s deeper than she expected and she grimaces; it’s going to need stitches. She slides her backpack off her shoulders, rummaging through it. She doesn’t have a whole lot of supplies - a potion would be much more convenient for this, but she has to make do. Her fingers clasp around the tiny pouch and she pulls it out, dumping out the needle and thread into her other hand. Ideally, she should clean the wound and supplies before doing this, but she doesn’t have any water nearby right now.

This is going to hurt. A lot. She holds the needle between her teeth to thread it, not really trusting either of her hands right now. It only takes three attempts to get it, and she grasps it, trying to steady her hand. She takes a deep breath. And pushes the needle through her skin.

She bites down on the inside of her cheek, a whimper escaping. Her vision is blurring with tears and it  _ hurts so much,  _ but she has to do this. She has to get it closed up or she’s going to keep bleeding or it’ll get infected. She keeps going, allowing the tears to freely spill down her cheek, just barely able to keep from sobbing. If she only had some of the blue mountain flowers, or  _ something  _ that could help with the pain.

It feels like an eternity, but she finally gets the wound stitched up decently. She cuts the thread with one claw, letting out a breath of relief. She decides to bandage it as well - better safe than sorry.

After all that, she is exhausted. Her limbs feel so heavy, and so do her eyelids. Next to the warmth of the fire, it’s hard to keep her eyes open. She’s hesitant to get too comfortable and fall asleep; the Thalmor could have tracked her down. But… she can’t run if she’s dead tired, can she?

Jakkuor rolls out her bedroll close to the fire and lies down, gripping her dagger tight. If they do find her, they won’t be able to catch her off-guard. She settles in and drops off to sleep before her head even touches the ground.


End file.
